Table Numbers

My table numbers have morphed through the years. They have always been hot air balloons, but they started out as plain paper balloons like so:

They were cute enough...but a little abstract for me. The next school changed them into a combination of fabric and paper

Which I once again loved. Those paper numbers took over a half hour each to make. At the end of last year, I wanted a slight tweak. (Maybe it's only when I change schools that the balloons need to change. The last model stayed the same the whole time I was at my last school.)
My needs for table numbers are as follows:

• I wanted a sturdier basket. It is inevitable that at least two balloons will fall down during the year. This usually happens when I am hanging something else on my ceiling, forget that I have something wedged in that particular ceiling tile and down comes the balloon (followed by dramatic gasps from my students). The basket would be crushed.
• I want the basket to look more realistic. Last model's basket was cute, but I love the woven look of real hot air balloons.
• Although I adore the numbers I made, I was up for a change. Some of the paper I used was not nearly as cute as I would have liked. (One and six. And two. Basically I only liked three, four, and five.)

As most of you, I love the Target dollar spot. I spotted some adorable glitter numbers in both black and gold. My husband tried to distract me and get me to the checkout lines, but seven words made him turn around and frantically help me find numbers.
"I won't have to make 3D letters!"
He loves it when I do less work.
Alas, there was not a complete set of gold or black letters so that intelligent man pointed out we could do odds one color and evens the other. It's nice being married to someone intelligent.
I highlighted my new baskets a few weeks ago. This time, those were my time consumers. Over half an hour each for those, but I have a feeling that when inevitably the balloons get knocked from the ceiling, the baskets will look awesome.

And here are a couple numbers all put together

(Treadmills make the best backdrop!)

I was at a family reunion for most of last week, so I did not have time to make much. I did finish painting a little table I keep in my classroom. She's old (about as old as me) and beat up (my sister once painted the entire thing with puff paint-now that was hard to sand off), but she works just perfectly in my classroom. I just have to spray a protective coat and she will be ready to face a hoard of fifth graders.

Linking up

More and More Banners

Last week I had the opportunity to help give the school board a tour of my school. They meandered around, making comments and asking questions. A photographer snapped pictures occasionally of the rooms that have slowly become classrooms.

My classroom looks almost ready to go! I have a ceiling, electricity, and running water. All I need is carpet, whiteboards, and bulletin boards.

I am excited to visit again soon. The building inspector's visit is scheduled for a week from today. We are all crossing our fingers that he (or she) will find nothing wrong and will give us the green light to move in a week from Monday.

Even my skylights open and close now. I am a pretty lucky girl.

One thing that I made the last couple of weeks is pizza. Lots and lots of pizza. I have perfected the easy dough recipe I found and have been harvesting our basil like crazy. I could eat this every day. (For a while, I was eating it every day.)

Another creation I made are these awesome gold magnet letters. My only complaint with the generic magnet letters is that they only give you one letter per pack. Why do I need three q's but only have three e's? My awesome landlord's kids enjoyed spelling out their names the last time they visited.

Finally, I have been making more and more banners. I love this one because it is a specific font. I can string my twine through the stars for this easy one.

I ran out of ideas for shapes for my banners. Because I have been creating these banners like crazy, I wanted each one to be a bit different. This one is very different. They look like ghosts to me.

I adore this one. Each letter sits on a tag shape.

My spelling banner consists of scalloped rectangles.

And...guess what this one is supposed to spell? It doesn't help that you can't read the letters very well or that I am missing a letter.

Last, but not least is my outside welcome banner. Gold glitter doilies with two sets of circles (one scalloped, one regular) and green striped letters on top. It's simple and classy.

Linking up

Stress Reliever

My husband commented to me the other day that I need to make things. I get too bored if I have nothing to do for too long. Crafting is my stress reliever. I am running out of things to make for the upcoming school year and I don't know what to do next...

The first thing I am making is ruffles. Lots and lots of ruffles on my vintage Bernina. The stitch length is as wide as it will go and as I sew, I barely hold onto the thread. It ruffles perfectly! It is also pretty to look at. I have made a ruffle roll out of what I have made so far. It's so pretty! You'll have to come back in a couple weeks to see how I use this in my classroom. This one is simply decor. (They do make great chic streamers also.)

I also made vocabulary cards for both my science units this year. I will laminate them, put a magnet on the back, and have them up on the whiteboard whenever I am teaching about that concept.

More science supplies. One of my units is inherited traits.

Because I have been using a lot of paper lately, I have a lot of larger paper scraps. When the scraps are large, I cut them into rectangles and bring them into my classroom for my students to use for their creations. If I have smaller scraps, I make these awesome bookmarks for my students.

If I just have a bit of paper, I cut it into long strips for regular bookmarks. I want to have a bookmark bin for students this year.

I also redid my calendar. I still love my old calendar, but this one is more visible. The numbers on my last calendar were tricky to see from the back of the classroom.

Library Organization

I have school library jealousy. If I could have my dream library organization, I would go with this scanner on Amazon:

But, who am I kidding? I am not a librarian.

I have also looked into book scanning apps, but I do not want my students touching my phone and up until this year, I have had no other form of scanning.

Last year I had a binder with a checkout page for each student in it. What was wrong with that system? I got bored with it and I was sick of the binder being out on my counter every day.

I cut out a bunch of library pockets and student numbers and promptly laminated them. (If you do not have your own laminator, I would highly recommend purchasing one. They are not expensive at all, I buy laminating sheets with school money to use for these projects, and it's nice having a harder lamination on all my creations. I purchased mine at Target for $20.00 and I used a gift card from one of my students so it really didn't cost me anything.)

My least favorite part about laminating is cutting it all out again at the end. I figure that the extra time I spend now will make it so I don't have to remake my school supplies every year. These pockets will be by my library so that students can easy access them, but they will be on the sides of my bookcases so they are out of the way.

In the pockets, I will have a checkout slip (similar to the ones found on I Love Labels) and two large popsicle sticks with the student number on them. When students check out a book, they simply place their popsicle stick as a placeholder so that my library stays as beautiful as possible. I made the sticks with a clear label containing their student number over a one inch strip of blue or green washi tape.

I also have been painting things with gold paint. I covered magnetic letters with gold spray paint and used regular gold paint to paint an Ikea planter and the top of this paperclip holder.

Linking up:

Woven Paper Baskets

One thing that has been constant throughout my classroom decor since I started teaching is hot air balloons. I use them for my table numbers. Every year they change slightly, but I feel like I almost have them right where I want them. This year I switched out the super cool 3D letters I made out of paper for some super cute glitter numbers I found in the Target dollar section. The other big change this year is the baskets.
I got the idea from this website and got started with brown paper bags, but decided that would be too intense, so I rushed off to the dollar store to grab one of their kraft paper rolls. Unfortunately, there were no plain brown rolls, but I was happy to discover all their kraft rolls are plain on the back.

Each strip was cut 1.5"x14"

I tried folding it in thirds just by eyeing the strip, but I failed miserably. I had to use my cutting mat to help.

 Down to 0.5"

Once I folded 13, I was done and the weaving began.

And I am left with a basket. Put fruit in it. Give your neighbor some cookies in it. Use it as a miniature hot air balloon basket. The options are endless.

It's perfect! 2.5"x2.5"x1.5". I cannot wait to attach them to my balloons and numbers.

Linking up!